This is a fable of two leaders who can't wait to prove they have what it takes to be a good leader. When they discover that their new partner doesn't agree with them about leadership, not even close, spark fly. And that's before they get ambushed. Not metaphorically. Ambushed as in surprised by an enemy army. That's because this story happens in a fictional medieval kingdom and these two leaders are the military commanders of a sleepy little fort.Addoc, the new fort commander, believes that great leaders motivate people to pursue a grand vision. Leadership is about vision and relationships. But Eldin, his second in command, holds that great leaders ensure excellence, that you become a leader by doing the work better than anyone else.They both have a chance to test their leadership approach. And they both fail. But they also both learn in the process. Think of it as a case study on leadership--with swords. There are short debrief sections at the end of each chapter, to unpack what just happened, along with discussion questions.This is an adventure novel fused with a leadership book with small group workbook elements sprinkled on top.

Co-authoring with Peter Stark

The "how-not-to" leadership book There is a paradox in leadership: we can only succeed by knowing failure. Every accomplished leader knows there are minefields of failures that need to be navigated in order to succeed. Wouldn't it be great to have the insights to help you prevent from making avoidable mistakes? Unfortunately, in business talking about mistakes can be taboo, and, at a certain level, learning from failure is not an option. Weinzimmer and McConoughey speak frankly about the things that are difficult to talk about – the unvarnished truths necessary to become a successful leader. Based on a groundbreaking 7-year study of what almost 1000 managers across 21 industries really think about lessons from failures Includes exclusive interview material from CEOs at a wide range of organizations, including major firms such as Caterpillar, Priceline.com, and Allstate; startups; and entrepreneurial small businesses Drills down into failure to uncover the strategies that aspiring leaders need in order to avoid the most damning leadership mistakes: unbalanced orchestration, drama management, and reckless vanity Learning from the mistakes of others is a necessary part of the journey of effective leadership, and this book offers an indispensable guide to learning these powerful lessons—without paying the price of failure.

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting nearly every aspect of our daily lives, but as Henna Inam points out in Wired for Disruption, agility is already a hardwired trait in each of us. Her timely book gives us the 15 accelerators (specific tools and practices) we need to switch on our in-built agility in order to thrive and be a force for good in times of disorder and chaos. There are five big challenges of leading in disruptive times: First, our neurobiology sees disruptive change as a threat to survival. This evolutionary reaction slows down our adaptation by reducing cognition and increasing burnout. Second, our old mindsets and biases prevent us from seeing new reality clearly. This prevents us from being creative. We need meta-learning to learn, unlearn and relearn. Third, our threat states and fluid teams of the future make collaboration harder, just when it is most needed to create opportunities. Fourth, while we recognize we're more interdependent than ever, we are missing the skill sets to influence our wider eco-system. Fifth, upskilling and growth is urgently needed for millions to solve our collective challenges. This requires a step-change in our ability to grow ourselves and others. These are Henna Inam's Five Shifts in Agility that we need to switch on: 1. Neuro-Emotional Agility: the ability to activate neural states that accelerate our adaptability. 2. Learning Agility: the ability to rapidly learn, unlearn, and re-learn based on the situation in front of us. 3. Trust Agility: the ability to develop just-in-time trust with diverse fluid teams and energize creative contributions. 4. Stakeholder Agility: the ability to influence multiple stakeholders with competing needs toward solutions that serve the broader ecosystem. 5. Growth Agility: the ability to grow ourselves and others to accelerate a future-ready workforce. Disruptions are opportunities to re-imagine, re-invent, and re-invigorate - to create something better. We have many collective problems to solve for a thriving planet that works better for all. Henna Inam's Wired for Disruption helps each of us be inspired, use our voice, and activate the embedded agility already within us. You can join her community of leaders inspired to be a force for good in disruption at www.transformleaders.tv

Do people see you as the kind of leader you want to be? Are your strongest leadership qualities getting in the way of your greatness? After decades of advising and inspiring some of the most eminent chief executives in the world, Lolly Daskal has uncovered a startling pattern: within each leader are powerful abilities that are also hidden impediments to greatness. She’s witnessed many highly driven, overachieving leaders rise to prominence fueled by well-honed skill sets, only to falter when the shadow sides of the same skills emerge. Now Daskal reveals her proven system, which leaders at any level can apply to dramatically improve their results. It begins with identifying your distinctive leadership archetype and recognizing its shadow: ■ The Rebel, driven by confidence, becomes the Imposter, plagued by self-doubt. ■ The Explorer, fueled by intuition, becomes the Exploiter, master of manipulation. ■ The Truth Teller, who embraces candor, becomes the Deceiver, who creates suspicion. ■ The Hero, embodying courage, becomes the Bystander, an outright coward. ■ The Inventor, brimming with integrity, becomes the Destroyer, who is morally corrupt. ■ The Navigator, trusts and is trusted, becomes the Fixer, endlessly arrogant. ■ The Knight, for whom loyalty is everything, becomes the Mercenary, who is perpetually self-serving. Using psychology, philosophy, and her own experience, Daskal offers a breakthrough perspective on leadership. She’ll take you inside some of the most cloistered boardrooms, let you in on deeply personal conversations with industry leaders, and introduce you to luminaries who’ve changed the world. Her insights will help you rethink everything you know to become the leader you truly want to be.

Being a leader does not mean we are absent of flaws; on the contrary, it means we have the ability to overcome them. Why then do we fall? Why do great leaders have great failures? How does a successful person face the areas they are not successful in? Are you divinely ordained but still leaning toward the things you should have left behind? Which will reign in you when you have to choose between your divinity and your humanity? Are you tired of being different? WHY LEADERS FAIL is a concise and power-packed book that provides candid answers to these questions and many others. Utilizing the examples set forth in the Bible with such notable heroes as David, Samson, Elijah and Noah, Pastor Ronald Godbee reveals the challenges that leaders face and the scenarios that often occur in the absence of a well-laid plan for success; and helps you explore the limitless possibilities of your leadership so you can discover a continuous realm of greatness.

From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.

Break the cycle of surface-level change and failure How do leaders become clearer as complexity increases? We live in a world where decisions require judgment, getting people on board, drawing on local knowledge, ingenuity, and commitment. As leaders, how do you get beneath surface-level change to tackle complex challenges with depth and clarity. Nuance is the answer. Michael Fullan returns with an eminently readable, compelling and practical guide on the three habits of nuance: joint determination, adaptability, and culture-based accountability. Learn how you can: · Combine the power of networks and humanity to get to desired destinations. · Embrace complexity and understand context to develop better judgment · Change the culture of your organization to harness the forces of nuance. · Develop quality change that sticks With tons of examples and case studies of this book makes explicit the hidden habits and mind frames of leaders who deliver lasting change.

National Bestseller “Students talk about Stewart D. Friedman, a management professor at the Wharton School, with a mixture of earnest admiration, gratitude and rock star adoration.” —New York Times In this national bestseller, Stew Friedman gives you the tools you need to achieve “four-way wins”—improved performance in all domains of life: work, home, community, and self. Friedman, celebrated professor and founding director of the Wharton School’s Leadership Program and its Work/Life Integration Project, explains how three simple yet potent principles—be real, be whole, and be innovative—can help you, no matter what your age or what you do for work, become a better leader and have a richer life. In this engaging adaptation of his hands-on Wharton course, he offers step-by-step instruction to help you create positive, sustainable change in your world. This proven, programmatic method teaches you how to produce stronger results at work, find clearer purpose, feel less stressed, strengthen connections with the people who matter most to you, contribute further to important causes, and gain greater support for your vision of your future. If you’re ready to learn to lead in all parts of your life—this is the book for you. For a full array of Total Leadership tips and tools, visit totalleadership.org. Also look for Stew Friedman’s book, Leading the Life You Want, which builds on Total Leadership by profiling well-known leaders—from Bruce Springsteen to Michelle Obama—who exemplify its principles and demonstrate how success in your work is accomplished not at the expense of the rest of your life, but as the result of meaningful attachments to all its parts.

Bob Pittman and AOL Time Warner. Jean Marie Messier and Vivendi. Jill Barad and Mattel. Dennis Kozlowski and Tyco. It's an all too common scenario. A great company breaks from the pack; the analysts are in love; the smiling CEO appears on the cover of Fortune. Two years later, the company is in flames, the pension plan is bleeding, the stock is worthless. What goes wrong in these cases? Usually it seems that top management made some incredibly stupid mistakes. But the people responsible are almost always remarkably intelligent and usually have terrific track records. Just as puzzling as the fact that brilliant managers can make bad mistakes is the way they so often magnify the damage. Once a company has made a serious mis-step, it often seems as though it can't do anything right. How does this happen? Instead of rectifying their mistakes, why do business leaders regularly make them worse? To answer these questions, Sydney Finkelstein has carried out the largest research project ever devoted to corporate mistakes and failures. In WHY SMART EXECUTIVES FAIL, he and his research team uncover-with startling clarity and unassailable documentation-the causes regularly responsible for major business breakdowns. He relates the stories of great business disasters and demonstrates that there are specific, identifiable ways in which many businesses regularly make themselves vulnerable to failure. The result is a truly indispensable, practical, must-read book that explains the mechanics of business failure, how to avoid them, and what to do if they happen.